The Puffer Forum

I've set up a small (20L) tank, this has an inside filter, and a heater set to 25 Degrees Celsius.

It was cycled, but before they arrived a cleaned it out, completly, and put in fresh water.
It's basically a bare tank, but I put in a small pot with gravel, Cabomba and another plant.

I ordered 20 small Ramshorn snails, and put those in.

When They arrived and where put in, most of them showed signs of life. But that became less very rapidly. After a week I felt pretty sure they where all dead. And sure, a few days later they where rotting.

What went wrong?
Can they not stand a strong current? Did I feed them too much, or not enough?
Or where they as good as dead on arrival? And did the dead ones poison the rest?

I Didn't use the light it was without a lid, in a room wich get's alot of daylight. I figured that would be enough. (still do actually)
I read story's of people breeding snails in large jars on a window sill. That never worked for my MTS.
So I tried to do it properly, but that didn't seem to work either. Should I try again with apple snails, or give up?

I wouldn't go apple snails right away ... ramshorns are pretty good.

You don't need the heater.

Have you read : library/feeding/basic-snail-breeding/ ??

My ramshorns are doing well in a 5 gal with just a sponge filter. That's it! They get a few algae chips every other day but they are going about their business.

Were there any fertilizers in the potted plants?

Hey thanks for your answer.

No, there was no fertilizer in the pot. Just gravel.

Yes I did read that and other articles. The only thing I see that is clearly different is that I don't have a sponge filter that bubbles, but the standard powerhead/sponge filter.

That's why I suspect the current. Does your sponge filter produce quite a strong current as well?

only along the top section .. the bubbles produce a wake. Other than the surface the rest of the tank is very quiet.

I removed the heater and filter (other than a bio sponge like yours J-P) from my snail tank and no eggs have successfully hatched since. I just set the tank back the way it used to be yesterday. My snail reserves are super low because of that mistake. I should have never messed with it. Wont do it again. I dont know where you keep your snails J-P but mine are in the basement. I assume their temps are staying lower than yours when I had no heater with them? Oh, my hob filter moves water fairly well in there and the ramshorns really seem to like it. They like to hang out on the glass right where it hits the glass at its heaviest flow. Strange as well?

i have a strong current in my snail tank
and my pond snails and rams are doing well
its heavily planted, no substrate
and loads of babies.
they are all surviving, and growing!

JoseDepacos wrote:I removed the heater and filter (other than a bio sponge like yours J-P) from my snail tank and no eggs have successfully hatched since. I just set the tank back the way it used to be yesterday. My snail reserves are super low because of that mistake. I should have never messed with it. Wont do it again. I dont know where you keep your snails J-P but mine are in the basement. I assume their temps are staying lower than yours when I had no heater with them? Oh, my hob filter moves water fairly well in there and the ramshorns really seem to like it. They like to hang out on the glass right where it hits the glass at its heaviest flow. Strange as well?

That is a good point. Mine are in the basement also. Lots of eggs, but it is a new tank set up, so I'll see if they hatch.

prolly had a small ammonia spike when you cleaned it out. Ive had it happen to a snail before. didnt last long in a very slight ammonia spike.

SammyDee wrote:prolly had a small ammonia spike when you cleaned it out. Ive had it happen to a snail before. didnt last long in a very slight ammonia spike.

Snails are normally very resilient. If water conditions get too nasty they will move just above the water line till conditions improve. I wouldnt think that would kill them all off. I dont know that for certain of course. Just a guess.

I fear I solved the riddle.

I took water from the upstairs bathroom, wich was remodeled 1 year ago.
It has a little bit of new copper piping. It can't more than 3 feet. (I'm not sure, because I re-used the old piping aswell, it might be only 1ft. at best)

Googling snails alnight yesterday, I found out gardners use copper to keep snails away from their crops.

I never thought of poison because none of them tried to flee.
It can only be trace amounts, that've never harmed a shrimp or fish, but it seems more plausible than current.

Or do you feel they should be more resiliant to this as well?

I give up. I tried it again, but now with water from another tap.
Dechlorinated it, and filtered it over carbon a few days prior to putting the new snails in.

I put in 8 baby snails. Two of them moved shortly after putting them in, so I definitaly know they survived the trip.

They haven't moved since. I don't feel very confident on them still being alive.

Try water from your fish tanks. As said earlier, snails really are not very sensitive to ammonia or nitrite. They can even be used for cycling a tank, in sufficient total mass.

My ramshorn eggs have hatched. No heater, just a sponge filter. I have intro'd some plants and the population just exploded!

I will be starting a snail Jello diet soon. many of my ramshorns are too large to feed to my SAPs. They have a tendency to rip out half the snail and leave the rest. I still have not tried crushing them beforehand as of yet.

could it be ''ph shock''? o.o